SOURCE: "Motion, Vision, and Coherence in the Dada Poetry of Tristan Tzara," in The French Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Winter, 1970, pp. 1-8.

In this essay, Caws traces the visual imagery of Tzara 's early poetry and find the unity of his poems in the "instant and incoherent reactions of the eye and ear."

"Dada Est Une Quantité De Vie En Transformation Transparente Sans Effort Et Giratoire."¹ Tzara's description of the universe of Dada denies progress for pure movement, and deliberate form for spontaneous vitality. Neither his often-quoted formula for constructing a Dada poem (cut out the words in a newspaper article of the desired length, shake them in a bag, remove them in random order), nor his superb example of a poem constructed in this way ("prix ils sont hier convenant ensuite tableaux …") contradict this vision of easy energy; nor can they be said to arouse, in general...